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Treatment #4

Coloncancerblows

Posts: 296
Joined: Feb 2013

Mar 28, 2013 - 12:17 pm

Got treatment #4 yesterday. So far so good. Little nausea but bearable. Appetite is definitely down and the constipation is back! Hate that part. Even came in to work today wearing my fanny pack but might not last the whole day. Tomorrow I get unhooked and it's a work holiday so I don't have to burn a vacation day. Yeah!!! Hope everyone is doing well.

How's it going with the folfox ..... I may be switching to that if my scans on Monday are not good. Seriously not looking forward to a switch in chemo. .... I'm on folfiri and avastin ..... I'm used to that one .... I basically know what to expect and can manage it quite well. Look out I may start to pick your brain for information and help!!! What pre-meds do you get, I'm wondering if they are the same for folfox and folfiri.

Steve tolerates the Folfiri well. The idea of switching to Folfox is scary. At least it is to me. He likely hasn't given it a moments thought. Lol. I guess it's fear of the unknown. So many seem to worry about going on the Irenotecan. That seems to be a scary one for people. For me it's oxy. Steve plays guitar so I think the neuropathy from the oxy would affect his QOL.

Thursday when I came home from work, I was wiped out! Friday morning the nausea was kicking in even though I had been taking the nausea meds. Got home Friday around 11 and pretty much was in bed the whole weekend until now. Appetite started coming back yesterday. From the time I get unhook on Friday, I'm pretty much down the whole weekend and just lay in bed. Hate that part. I'll go to work tomorrow and then every day will get better and better. By next week I'll be 100% then we start the cycle again. Ugh. 8 more sessions to go.

I'm at the point where I cannot shift the fatigue. And my mouth never feels normal. And my scalp is so very sensitive, it feels like each hair (which is getting thinner each day) is a needle sticking into my scalp.

I lost a lot of my hair too. It was very long and thick and wavy. I cut it to about shoulder length because every time I washed it or brushed it the hair that was falling out would take other hair strands with it. I Ilost quite a bit that now when I put it in a pony tail I have about the same amount of hair that my daughter had when she was a toddler...plus it is very fine and dry now. So around the house I just put it in a pony tail or in a bun. When I go out I wear my wig...I chose a medium length with fairly straight strands...oh, and no gray! I say wear the wig if it makes you feel better. Oh, I also use bobby pins to put my hair in a small bun under the wig and also to secure the wig.

My hair thinned as well. It didn't fall out completely, but enough so that it wasn't attractive - it was really thin all around and you could see my scalp. I looked like the "before"picture in a hair club for men commercial. I used to wear my hair slightly longer than shoulder length, but after it started to fall out, I cut it really short. that was an adjustment.

I bought a wig and wore it to work. The wig looked nice, but it was so scratchy that I didn't wear it at home or around town on weekends. I coped! I shed like a dog, and there would be hair all over the house (I don't have a pet.) I vacuumed a lot more, and cleaning the bathtub was depressing. I'd run my fingers through my hair and there would be ten+ strands on each palm.

But.... after about five months of treatment, it stopped falling out and started to grow back. I'd run my hands through my hair and nothing would come out. Nada. Zip. I was thrilled! Don't know why this happened; maybe I got used to the chemo, I don't know.

Now I'm on Xeloda pills (5fu) and haven't started to shed. I'm hoping I won't, but if I do, I know the drill. Back to the wig!

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